STOCKTON — A speeding-car investigation Monday evening led police to a north Stockton home where they discovered 37 stolen, high-value catalytic converters and a loaded handgun. The result was five arrests that could possibly put a crimp in the explosion of such thefts Stockton has experienced in the past year.

The Record

STOCKTON — A speeding-car investigation Monday evening led police to a north Stockton home where they discovered 37 stolen, high-value catalytic converters and a loaded handgun. The result was five arrests that could possibly put a crimp in the explosion of such thefts Stockton has experienced in the past year.

The Police Department’s Community Response Team was patrolling a northeast neighborhood around 8:10 p.m. Monday when officers saw a Mercedes speed by on Fox Creek Drive. According to a police account, they lost the car briefly before discovering it parked and unoccupied in the driveway of a home in the 9000 block of Fox Creek.

They went to the home and contacted the residents, who confirmed they had been in the Mercedes. A subsequent search of the home turned up the stolen converters and the loaded gun.

Officers arrested three men, Sophanny Poeun, 23, Jackson Ham, 21, and Nhim Surteng, 19; one woman, Sanipha Kham, 20; and a 16-year-old male juvenile. All five were booked on suspicion of weapons and stolen property charges. Police described Poeun as a documented gang member.